MEXICO CITY – Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos posted on Friday a net income of 18.9 billion pesos ($1 billion) for the first nine months of 2017, an increase of 107.2 percent from the same period of last year.

Pemex said in the earnings report that the result was due to higher oil prices, Mexico’s gradual liberalization of gasoline and diesel prices and the peso’s depreciation against the dollar, among other factors.

The prices of crude rose from an average of $38.27 per barrel in the third quarter of 2016 to an average of $45.74 per barrel in July-September 2017.

Revenue from fuel sales in Mexico increased due to a hike in gasoline and diesel prices, which are being gradually liberalized, the Mexico City-based company said.

Pemex said crude production, which has dropped to below 2 million barrels per day in recent months, its lowest level in decades, had fallen due to Hurricanes Harvey and Katia and maintenance work at its most productive field – Ku-Maloob-Zaap.

But it said output was expected to recover sufficiently to allow the company to meet its annual target.

In the third quarter of 2017, Pemex posted a net loss of 101.8 billion pesos ($5.6 billion), down 14 percent from the same three-month period of 2016.